This marketing plan book
presents internal analysis
of Laughing Planet CafĂŠ
(henceforth referred to as
LPC), the industry in which
they occupy and the macroenvironment in which they
operate. Turn pages with
extreme care.

The growth of the fast-casual service model and
the addition of curbside service to full-service
restaurants has created a dual concept: food fast.

2

Consumers expect restaurant meals to be served
quickly with a greater emphasis on flavor, quality
and ambiance. This means faster, more convenient
service and more nutritional meal options from the
restaurant industry as a whole.

The restaurant industry is no
longer divided into clear-cut
segments

Consumers report that their idea of places
offering “fast food” has expanded to include
fast-casual restaurants. These include: Panera
Bread, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Café Yumm! and
full-service restaurants offering carry-out and
curbside service.
Consumers are more empowered than ever before.
They know that everything is negotiable; they know
that their time is valuable; and, they know that
simplicity is complicated. Consumers have nearly
unrestricted access to a wide range of goods
and services. Consumers want increased levels
of taste and flavor, food preparation techniques,
cleanliness, service, comfort, and portion size.
They are becoming increasingly sophisticated,
demanding, and cynical but they still recognize the
advantages of the “good food fast.”

Consumers’
5 food needs

1 Taste

convenience

2 Health
3 value
4
5 Ego

3

LPC customers are...

Achievers achieve! They have goal-oriented lifestyles and a deep commitment to career
and family. Their social lives reflect their focus. Life is structured around family, work,
and community organizations. Achievers are active in the consumer marketplace because
image is so important. They favor established, prestige products and services that
demonstrate their values to their peers. They live busy lives and are always seeking the
newest variety of time-saving devices, as long as it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t compromise core values.

Innovators Achievers
LPC customers are...

4

Innovators are innovative! They are successful, sophisticated, take-charge
people with high self-esteem. They are change leaders in their communities,
active consumers, and their purchases reflect cultivated tastes for niche
products and services. Image is oh so important, not as evidence of status
or power but as an expression of taste, independence, and personality.
Innovators are among the established and emerging community leaders, yet
they continue to seek challenges. Their lives are characterized by variety.

5

G

eographics

Population:
Oregon
Eugene
97402

3,790,060
143,356
48,954

Education Levels (adults over 25):
Oregon
Eugene
97402

Oregon provides a great environment for
Laughing Planetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s organic-based values,
especially in Eugene. There are many people
who value organics and strive for their own
type of sustainability. Laughing Planetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
demographics are broken down into three
different categories: Oregon, Eugene and the
West Eugene 97402 Zip Code, which includes
their location on Blair Street, in Eugene.

According to LPC execs, annual sales look similar to a bell curve with peak sales
coming in the summer months. LPC credits this peak to the coinciding good weather.
Competitor sales data from 2006-2009 reinforces this observation; the majority of
their revenue is generated during the third and fourth quarter (roughly from JuneDecember - aka â&#x20AC;&#x153;Back to School).
Primary research (consumer interviews) demonstrates that 49% of the control
group eats at LPC at least once a week, with 23% stating that they eat at other
restaurants falling under the fast-casual category at least one additional time per
week.
Of all individuals surveyed, 36% of all meals eaten are eaten away from home and to
that end one-third of the individuals interviewed regularly utilize a take-out window.
Similarly, efficient ordering and carry-out options have strong appeal. Call-ahead
ordering for pickup, separate take-out stations, and curbside service interests
consumers, respectively.

S

pend Cycle

There are three major categories of
media that must be utilized in this
campaign: traditional, social/electronic
and alternative.

S

pend money to make money
March

April

May

Eugene Weekly

The traditional subset will focus on
print periodicals circulating Eugene.
The social/electronic subset will
reference the utilization of the rapidly
growing internet social networks.
The alternative will encompass the
remaining ideas that may not be
linear, but are invaluable to impactful
marketing. Alternative media outlets
would include the UO student survival
guide and a non-traditional campaigns
executed as guerilla and grass roots
marketing.

8

X

Eugene Magazine
Pop-Up Book
Social Media

X

July
X

Aug. Sept.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec. Jan. Feb.

X

X

X

X

X
X

Bus Shelter
Google
Search
Optimization

June

X

X

X

X
X

X

X

X

X
X

X

X

X

X

X

X
X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Pricing

Pertinent Misc.

Competition

Register
Guard

61,865
(daily)

$30.83
(per column in.)

Highly educated market,
special rates for
restaurant advertising

Chicken Bonz,
Fisherman’s Market,
Dickey Joe’s

Eugene
Weekly

40,123
(weekly)

$222-$352
(quarter pg.)

Publishes the “Best of
Restaurants” list.

Sy’s, Kona Cafe
Dog-In-A-Box

Lifestyle magazine that
focuses on Eugene

Cornucopia, Sushi
Station, Toasted Herbs

University of Oregon
Student Newspaper

No Competitive
Presence

Name

Circulation

20,000
Eugene
Magazine quarterly)

X
X

Traditional Media costs

X

X

The following is an allocation of a $25,000.00
marketing budget for LPC. These media choices and
their assigned allocation will provide the highest
value and yield the greatest return. The table “LPC
Budget Projection” displays the cost and exposure
of each media choice.

LPC has built a small but strong base of core customers. They are repeat purchasers
and have a high level of attachment to the product, service, and mission. These
customers are LPC loyalists and advocates. So what’s our goal? Continue to retain these
customers by legitimizing their purchases at LPC beyond the surface of the food and
empower them with the information to recruit like-minded consumers.
Reasons for developing and retaining these advocates:
• Branding: The cost of achieving branding through traditional means – print and
television – is prohibitive for LPC. In our marketing structure, effective branding is
done at a reduced cost on a one-to-one basis.
• Avoiding Suspicion and Cynicism: Consumers are more and more suspicious of
advertising than ever before. Consumers have developed highly sophisticated B.S.
radar. All marketing efforts will be planned to provide word-of-mouth capabilities.

10

• Consumer Focus: Building a highly loyal customer base cannot be done as an add-on. It
must be integral to a company’s basic business strategy. Another way to say this: Give your
customers something to brag about. This bragging is what creates curiosity in the market.
• Profit Generation: The companies with the best retention rates also earn the best profits.
It generally costs 4-6 times more to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one.
Consumer advocates can outspend average customers 4:1. Begetting advocates could lead
to 16-24 times the profit of acquiring new customers.
• Cutting Acquisition Costs: Even if LPC Advocates do not generate customers directly at
no cost, LPC can target people who are just like their best customers. This will allow LPC to
eliminate less effective sources for acquiring new customers.
• Upgrading New Customer Quality: In most cases, these new customers will have mirror
profiles of current LPC customers. If the marketing is executed correctly, they will not be
acquired through discount pricing or ridiculous premiums.
• Vested Interest: LPC advocates think they are the best. They have a vested interest in
keeping the company alive so that LPC will always be there to serve them.

11

The LPC campaign must be driven towards an audience that looks, acts,
and feels like LPC customers. The target audience is two-fold.
The first subset can most efficiently be described as University of
Oregon students. The opportunity is to branch out LPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s core customer
base to the huge population of students with LOHAS (Lifestyles of
Health and Sustainability) values in the Eugene Market.The problem is
convincing them that LPC is worth the trip across town.
The second subset is the LOHASs. They are young singles/couples and
established families with moderate incomes. While they share similar
core values with the mission and goals of LPC and its executives, they are
more importantly, community-minded and outwardly-driven people who
put a great deal of worth on the authenticity of what goes in and on their
bodies.

12

The emphasis of the campaign is the core food served by LPC with
secondary imagery and emphasis placed on fostering community
health. Execution requires quality images that are seen through
credible media and express a genuine tone. The ideal medium
combines quality imagery with the opportunity to communicate
genuinely by demonstrating an interest in the food culture and
overall community wellbeing. If Laughing Planet CafĂŠ truly has a
message to deliver, then there is no replacement for direct, honest
communication.
Perception/Tone/Guidelines:
1.) Dynamic, experienced, contemporary, exciting, fun, communicative,
cooperative
2.) Down-to-earth, high community visibility
3.) Use current LPC marketing & branding efforts in a new and different way
4.) Information should have a fresh and conversational tone
5 .)Everything is easy to navigate and find additional information about
quality food choices

13

Because LPC’s message will be delivered across a variety of media
channels it is important to have a clear, unifying message.
While the competition is all but transparent in the composure of
their food and advertise in traditional channels to reach average
consumers, LPC will open the consumer’s curiosity and care for the
community the same way they do.
In response to the core consumer’s spirited curiosity and
competitor’s lack of heart, LPC will approach creative and promotional
executions of their campaign with the concept “What’s Inside?”
It’s fun, curious, and intelligent. What’s inside a community? What’s
inside the soil that grows Smart Beans? What’s inside your stomach?
What’s inside your burrito? The “What’s Inside?” campaign allows
LPC to focus on any range of topics while maintaining their unique,
quirky attitude.

14

E

xecutions
The concept will be carried out throughout the brand,
incorporating in-store and outdoor advertising. Outdoor and
interactive advertising are particularly key in the execution
because we want to go beyond posing a question, to provide an
answer, thereby opening a dialogue with advertising.
The “What’s Inside?” campaign will reach an ideal audience,
edge out soulless competition, discuss what’s important to the
food industry and community health, and have fun all at once.

15

Print

outDOoR

What’s inside?

?edisni s’tahW

The only thing more
boring than waiting
for the bus is
waiting for the bus
with nothing to do.
Now people with
the gumption
for public
transportation
can pass the time
learning the ins
and outs of LPC
burritos.

Promotions enhance LPC’s exposure in Eugene and strengthens community ties.
Bean Boxes: Imagine...hanging from rafters and perched
on counters are small dried been boxes. For
every burrito, bowl, or salad purchased the
customer gets a bean. They place bean
in the box of their choice - each box
representing a non-profit group in Eugene.
For each bean, LPC vows to donate $.05
to the cause of the box. The customer’s
choice fosters a greater sense of community
by getting LPC involved in their favorite
non-profit groups. Ideas include: UO
Anthropology Department (monkeys), UO
Cycling Team, Grassroots Garden, Center
for Appropriate Transit, etc. Together the
customer and LPC share in the success of
their community.

T-Shirts: Ever been to In-N-Out?
Did you get a shirt? Of course you did.
It’s proof of your dedication to the
Americana cause.
If burgers, shakes, and animal-style
fries can do it, then burritos can too.
The t-shirts create a fan following
of dedicated LPC customers. Word
of Mouth advertising is the best
form of it, and when Laughing Planet
enthusiasts want to promote the
restaurant in a fun and funky way, they
really coincide with the personality of
Laughing Planet.

21

K

razy Kit

It’s important to keep in touch with
media outlets. That’s why LPC has
taken the time and effort to produce
a media kit. But what about consumer
kits?
It’s important to outfit LPC consumers
with the kind of information they can
take home to persuade friends and
indoctrinate family. Thus, the “Planet
Advocate’s Pop-Handbook” is born.
The “Planet Advocate’s Pop-Handbook”
is a pop-up book filled with LPC wisdom,
burrito history*, and information
about supporting the sustainable food
market.

*Burrito History (copy example)
Praise the Aztecs! Between Mesoamerican domination, pyramid
construction and peyote-induced trances, the Aztecs used
corn tortillas to wrap and transport meals. It was a deliciously
convenient way to wrap duck, turkey, seafood, insects (they’re
surprisingly high in protein), avocados, tomatoes, mushrooms,
chilies, and even chocolate. Fast forward a few hundred years,
and a vibrant, spicy fusion cuisine developed, still mainly based on
corn, but incorporating all sorts of culinary ideas.
In the northern state of Chihuahua, Mexico corn grows poorly
but wheat grows very well. In the late 19th century, an unsung
farming hero created the first flour tortilla. Shortly thereafter,
someone rolled that tortilla around some meat and named it a
burrito (burritos are fat and cute baby burro colts that serve as
pack animals). It was a triumph of culinary ingenuity.
The burrito has certainly made up for lost time. Everywhere
it goes it acquires new fillings and toppings that are even more
alien than its last stop. These days we eat burritos that cross all
cultural lines. Given the history of the burrito and the way that
the once simple formula has been embellished over the years,
it’s safe to ignore the claims of burrito purists that one recipe
is the unadulterated and authentic burrito by which all others
should be measured. The burrito has always been a platform for
creativity. At Laughing Planet Café we believe that what you like
is what’s inside.

“Planet Advocate’s Pop-Handbook”

D

uring a visit to downunder, a group of radical
environmentalist friends and
several Australian Aborigines
gathered on a mountain
to look over a modern
city stretching out in all
directions.
Asked to describe what they
saw, the environmentalists agreed
that the sprawling city, and the
civilization that built it, was a kind of
cancer eating away at the planet.

Mankind threatened
the very biosphere that
supported all life.

“What you
see is not a
cancer,”
one man said.

“But more a
scab, a surface
wound at worst.
One day, when the earth is truly
tired of humanity’s shenanigans, it
will laugh heartily and shake all of
this loose from its surface. Do not worry
about the planet”, they chuckled, “it surely
finds your civilization to be very funny,
and in the long run, it will take care of the
problem itself”.

The Aborigines, surprisingly, were far less
worried about what they saw stretched
out below them.

23

F

arewell
LPC is an institution that is more than simply a restaurant. It is a part of the
community with a distinct personality and values. All recommendations made
embrace that philosophy and align with the core mission and values of LPC. LPCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
high level of quality couple with their fierce sense of resolution and dedication
is the message that this plan book will stress - that LPC is a business that
is intricately tied to the community and has a sincere interest in the overall
welfare of society.